Welcome

We welcome you to the site of the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean.

The Department of Mediterranean Studies, based in the island of Rhodes, with its interdisciplinary program of studies and the qualified teaching & research personnel, gives to its students the necessary skills for their future career.

Professor Ioannis A. Seimenis

Head of the Department

The Department of Mediterranean Studies

The Department of Mediterranean Studies (DMS) was founded in 1997 and began its operation in the academic year 1999-2000. It is part of the School of Humanities of the University of the Aegean, together with the Department of Primary Education and theDepartment of Pre-school Education and Educational Design. The School of Humanities is housed in two big renovated buildings next to the Medieval Town of Rhodes, which have classrooms, laboratories, libraries and instructors’ offices. More information about the University of Aegean and its Schools/Departments is available at the website: http://www.aegean.gr.

The mission of the DMS, as it is generally stated in the Presidential Decree 316 (Gazette Issue 223, 4/11/97) is “to develop and promote the knowledge about the language, ancient and modern history, ancient civilisation, economic and political structures of the Mediterranean countries, with particular emphasis on the south and south-eastern part of the Mediterranean area”.In the first two years of study (1st – 4th semester) the courses are common for all students of the DMS and are divided into compulsory and optional ones. The study, teaching and research of these issues, which was attempted for the first time in an academic department of Greece, have given a unique and innovative character to the DMS. In the beginning of the fifth semester of study all students are required to choose one of the following three scientific divisions:

Archaeology

Linguistics of the South-Eastern Mediterranean Area

International Relations and Organizations

That have been established by the Presidential Decree 360/2001 (Government Gazette Issue 244 vol. Α΄ 22.10.01).

Laboratory for the ancient world of the East Mediterranean (Government Gazette Issue 1910 vol. Β’ 8/9/2015)

The DMS conducts innovative research in all the sub-fields it specializes in, so as to offer high-quality studies to its students. Moreover, the studies offered by the DMS have a modern, dynamic and competitive character that provide to its graduates a strong scientific profile as opposed to other specialists (archeologists, linguists, international relations’ scientists) that come from equivalent departments. The students of the DMS are initiated to the importance of research activity through which scientists become acknowledged by publishing their work to high level scientific editions and journals. Students are also encouraged to marginalize mediocrity and to develop their critical skills, in order to be able to achieve the “optimal” outputs. In general, the DMS seeks to foster a spirit of modern tendencies and pioneering studies, focusing on training activities and expanding scientific horizons, challenging punditry and searching for empirically tested points of view. In today’s globalized world, the DMS aims at educating scientific personnel that will manage to effectively deal with the rapidly expanding and changing technological environment. The high demands, as there are nowadays established in the geopolitical and the international economical level, call for interdisciplinary and insightful executives who will contribute to Mediterranean region development, especially in the fields of international economics, politics and diplomacy, languages, literature and the civilization of the South-Eastern Mediterranean region, as well as to the communication among different cultures.